USDA Lifts Limits on Meat, Grains in School Lunches

Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — It has only been three months since new calorie-cutting rules took effect in school cafeterias nationwide, but students have been complaining, sometimes in song parody, that their lunch doesn’t fill them up.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has defended the new standards, saying, “We’re seeing elementary school children probably more receptive to this than high school students.”

Now, though, in a letter to Congress, Vilsack says he has removed daily and weekly maximums of meats and grains.

Members of Congress from farm states had been pushing for the change, saying schools needed more flexibility.